


Proposed Hypothetical

by onereyofstarlight



Series: FAB Five Feb [1]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23143444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onereyofstarlight/pseuds/onereyofstarlight
Summary: Alan visits John up on Thunderbird Five, and John has a question for him.
Series: FAB Five Feb [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1663633
Kudos: 37





	Proposed Hypothetical

“Ha!” crowed Alan as he catapulted head over heels knocking the ball into the goal. “That’s four-nil to the Rocket!”

“Well, I’m glad one of us is having fun,” said John drily. “Your zero-G navigation has gotten better.”

Alan beamed, twisting gracefully in the air as he floated back towards John.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah, squirt,” said John reaching out to ruffle his brother’s hair fondly. “Only a matter of time before I can retire in peace.”

Alan scoffed. “Like you’d ever leave Thunderbird Five.”

“If it means regular cheeseburgers and some quiet, I might,” said John with an amused smile. “Come on, I’m starving.”

In the corridor, Alan reached out and dialled the gravity ring back on. He stretched his arms above his head and groaned loudly.

“That’s enough exercise for one day,” he said happily as they walked towards Five’s galley.

“Not here it’s not,” reminded John. “We’ve got a cardio session in an hour.”

“How do you get it all done?” complained Alan. “Don’t rescues get in the way of this stuff?”

“Oh, all the time,” said John. He opened the refrigeration unit and tossed him a banana. “You get used to making the most of it. Ten minutes is actually quite a significant chunk of time when you get down to it.”

Alan pulled a face as he flopped into a chair.

They were quiet for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. Alan sighed happily as he hung off the side of the table staring down at the universe sailing beneath their feet. He straightened up to throw the banana peel at the hole in the wall that lead to the compost site and caught sight of John staring at him with an odd expression on his face.

“What?”

John shook himself slightly.

“Nothing,” he said with a reassuring smile. “Just not used to sharing the view with someone.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Alan wistfully. “We haven’t done that for at least three years.”

“Longer,” said John in agreement.

He was quiet once more, but Alan could sense there was something more John wanted to say. He just had to stay silent long enough to let him speak.

“Do you ever think you’ll come up here? More permanently I mean?”

Alan looked at his brother in surprise. He hadn’t known what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t that.

“Me? Why?”

“Just hypothetically,” said John in a rush. “And not forever.”

“How long? Hypothetically?”

“Nine months.”

The answer was prompt and certain and definitely not hypothetical. Alan looked over at him in surprise.

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah.”

“But you love it up here!”

“Yeah.”

“Why? Do you miss flying Three? We could work something out, go a month around at a time?”

“No, Alan,” he said, and swallowed loudly. “Alan, I want to leave International Rescue for nine months.”

“What? No!” said Alan, his heart beating rapidly. He didn’t know what brought this on, or how long his brother had been thinking this, but he knew it was his responsibility to get to the bottom of this mess. “You can’t! We need you.”

“Alan, it’s not forever.”

“Then why do you need to go at all? Have you told the others? Does Scott know?”

“Alan,” said John firmly, interrupting his babbling. “Stop and listen to me.”

Alan stopped, eyes wide.

“I… did not start that well,” said John, taking a deep breath. “I want to get more experience in meteorological modelling and computer simulations.” He flicked his wrist, and Alan watched as screeds of data analysis raced upwards on a screen between them. John pointed to one of the values, and a number of linked incidences lit up.

“See here? The last eighteen months have shown that Five’s current weather patterning is unable to predict where you are most needed almost forty percent of the time. That’s unacceptable, we can do better.”

Another flick of the wrist and a holographic image of a woman appeared. Alan stared at her curiously. She had a severe haircut, a hard, thin line for a mouth, and she stared out from the portrait boldly, daring Alan to disagree with his brother.

“This is Dr Corbett,” he said. “We’ve been in contact since December, collaborating on a deep neural networking process that could be used to improve weather forecasting. She has the capability to dramatically reduce on our reliance on parameterization and I have the background and computing power needed to craft a simulation that could provide a real-time weather model.”

“John,” interrupted Alan. “I haven’t been studying weather for the last seven months, dumb it down.”

“Sorry,” said John. “Anyway the point is right now we can’t progress while I’m up here, I need to be on Earth at a minimum – working in the same lab would be even better. I won’t go ask Scott without a working plan about how International Rescue will run in the meantime. So I need to know, are you able to run Five if I go?”

“Well, yeah,” said Alan, still taken aback by the idea that had been sprung on him. “I can, but do you really trust me with that?”

To his credit, John looked genuinely confused by the question.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, I’m not like you,” mumbled Alan. “You’re all disciplined and competent and a literal genius and you always know what to do when people need help.”

John frowned. “No, I’m not. And I don’t.”

“What? Of course you do.”

Still frowning, John pulled up a new screen, filled to the brim with tables of numbers and graphs that went on for pages. Alan winced as he saw all their names.

“Yeah, John, see, it’s stuff like this,” he said, waving a hand at the screen. “I can’t do this and I’d never think to do this.”

“Good,” said John. “This is the product of countless hours of wasted time trying to calm my own anxiety with my passion for data analysis. You have different strengths.”

He pointed at the short conclusive statement he’d made under Alan’s name.

_Alan Tracy: Highly skilled in all areas. Shows high levels of adaptability across a variety of rescue scenarios. Demonstrates good instincts and is compassionate. Works well with people of all backgrounds. Seeks and takes advice as appropriate. Is unafraid to ask questions or share information to ensure the safest and most efficient plan is put in place. Able to calm those who are upset and reassure those who are scared. Developing as an authority in the rescue industry. Insecurity still an issue, but expected to grow out of as he ages._

Alan blinked as he read the text. “You really think all that?”

John tapped on the screen and the words disappeared, leaving Alan to stare into his brother’s smiling eyes.

“Alan, the data doesn’t lie. You’re a great operative. And I don’t want you to be like me. Know why?”

“Because you want me to be like me?” muttered Alan, rolling his eyes.

“What?” said John, looking at him strangely. “I mean if you must. But Alan, if you were just like me, Scott would just send you to Dr Corbett. And I want to go!”

Alan laughed and rushed at his older brother. John stood frozen for a moment, Alan trapping his arms in a hug. He reached up and awkwardly tried to pat him on the back.

“Thanks John,” said Alan happily.

“You’re welcome? Let me go please.”

“Nope,” he said with a grin. “Love you John.”

John let out a long suffering sigh, and Alan grinned even more broadly when his arms tugged Alan close.

“Love you too, squirt,” he grumbled.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the FAB Five Feb challenge on tumblr by @Gumnut  
> Prompts used were "ball" and "No! You can't!"  
> Cross posted from Tumblr, originally posted on 06/02/2020
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


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